Hyderabad ISIS module inspired by Zakir Naik, says NIA

The NIA states in its chargesheet that the accused persons were inspired by the speeches of Zakir Naik among others.

During the course of the investigation, the NIA also learnt that these
persons were radicalised after watching videos of the ISIS, bayans
(discourses and lectures) of radical Islamic preachers, such as Anwar
Awlaki, Abdul Sami Qasmi, Meraj Rabbani, Tausif ur Rehman, Jerjees
Ansari and Zakir Naik.

NIA files charge sheet against 8 in Hyderabad ISIS module case

Eight persons were on Thursday named by NIA in a charge sheet for
allegedly attempting to carry out a terror strike by using explosive
devices similar to those used by ISIS cadres during last year’s Paris
attacks. The charge sheet was filed before a special NIA court at
Hyderabad under various sections of IPC, Explosive Substances Act, Arms
Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

They have been charged with entering into a criminal conspiracy to
wage war against the country by collecting weapons and explosive
materials to target public places including religious sites and
sensitive government buildings in various parts of the country. Those
named in the charge sheet are Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Amoodi alias Fahad,
Mohammed Ibrahim Yazdani alias Abu Abdurrahman, Habeeb Mohammed alias
Abu Shaibah, Mohammed Ilyas Yazdani alias Abu Mansoor, Muzaffar Hussain
Rizwan alias Abulhasan, Yasir Naimathullah alias Naimath Ullah Hussaini,
Mohd Ataullah Rahman alias Ghouse and Abdul Raoof alias Mohammed
Almashrifi.

The NIA said that during raids at various premises on June 29,
several electronic gadgets, mobile phones, hard discs, semi-automatic
pistols, air rifle, pellets, target boards, explosive precursor
chemicals were recovered. These can be used for preparation of
triacetone triperoxide (TATP), an explosive material used in the Paris
attacks. As many as 129 people were killed on November 13, 2015 when
ISIS cadres used TATP substances while carrying out terror strikes at
three places in Paris. TATP is easy to make, easy to set off, and
susceptible to accidental detonations.

The NIA also found urea, nitrate explosive and equipment for
manufacturing like pet jars with liquids, capacitor, gas stove with
cylinder, weighing balance, nails, knives, quartz alarm time pieces,
bundle of wire. Forensic analysis of electronic gadgets seized from the
accused showed online radicalisation of the accused by watching videos
of ISIS, discourses and lectures of radical Islamic preachers, such as
Anwar Awlaki, Abdu Sami Qasmi, Meraj Rabbani, Tausif ur Rehman, Jerjees
Ansari and Zakir Naik, the agency said.
Investigation has established that the members downloaded and
followed ISIS propaganda videos, ISIS magazine – “Dabiq”, which
convinced them that ISIS was fighting for the rights of the Sunni
Muslims, it said. The group associated with Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (the ISIS) and pledged their allegiance through the Bay’ah to Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed Caliph of the Islamic State and
formed a group called Jhund ul Khilafa Fi Bilad Al Hind (Army of the
Caliph from the South India), it further said.

When the Army of the Caliph was almost set up in South India

New Delhi, Dec 25: The National Investigation in its chargesheet
filed against 8 persons says that an attempt was being made to establish
the Army of the Caliph from South India or the Jhund ul Khilafa Fi Bilad Al Hind.

The NIA had arrested 8 persons from Hyderabad for their alleged links with the ISIS.
During the raid that was conducted the NIA stumbled upon material which
suggested that the 8 persons were in touch with handlers from Syria.
Their role was to establish the ISIS Caliphate in South India, the NIA
also says.

The NIA says that the group associated with the ISIS pledged their
allegiance through the Bay'ah to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The NIA further
states that this group of 8 wanted to form the Jhund ul Khilafa Fi Bilad
Al Hind or the Army of the Caliph from the South India.

The NIA during the raids conducted on June 29 found electronic
gadgets, mobile phones, hard discs, semi-automatic pistols, air rifles,
pellets, target boards, explosive precursor chemicals, urea nitrate
explosive and equipments, a capacitor, knives and bundles of wire.
NIA
officials also say that investigations found that these 8 persons were
trying to set up a large army of people in South India. They were
convinced about the cause of the ISIS and hence decided to all out and
set up a very strong module for the group. Their focus was on South
India only, the NIA also says.

Jordanian national radicalised Hyderabad's ISIS suspect: NIA

A deceased Jordanian man has emerged as the one behind "initiating" a
Hyderabadi man into the fold of the jihadist ideology, an act which
culminated in the formation of an Islamic State (IS)-affiliated group in
India. The terrorist group later named itself the Jhund Ul Khalifa
al-Hind Fl Bilad or Army of the Caliph in south India.
A charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on
Saturday stated that it was between June 2013 and 2014 that Mohammed
Ibrahim Yazdani, 30, met Jordanian national who went by the name Suhayb
Al Abudi. Ibrahim was then working at the Riyadh-based Bazee Trading
Company and made friends with the Jordanian, who was also working in the
same company.

According to the NIA, Abudi showed Ibrahim several videos of Syrian
forces allegedly committing atrocities on Sunni Muslims. Through this,
he convinced him that Syrian President Bashar Al Assad was the man
responsible for these atrocities.
"He (Abudi) also argued that Bashar Al Assad, the Syrian President,
was committing atrocities on Sunni Muslims in Syria and the lS was
waging jihad against the Assad government. lbrahim Yazdani visited India
in June, 2014 for two months, but he kept communicating with Suhayb Al
Abudi on Facebook," reads the NIA document accessed by DNA.

According to the probe agency, when IS declared itself a Caliphate
under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in June 2014, and seized large areas in Syria
and Iraq, Ibrahim was allegedly highly influenced by the declaration of
the Caliphate and had come to a firm belief that it was every Muslim's
bounden duty to perform Hijrah, i.e. migration to the Caliphate.
However, his plans hit a roadblock soon when he got to know that
Abudi had been killed in Syria in September 2014. The news was broken to
him by an individual named Sulaiman who identified himself as the
brother of Abudi.

Subsequently, after months of following the changing geopolitical
situation in Iraq and Syria on Twitter and other social media websites,
Ibrahim managed to get in touch with a person who identified himself as,
"Abu lssa Al Amriki," in January 2015.
It was Amriki who became the main handler of the Hyderabad module of
IS and guided the group through Ibrahim. He advised the 30-year-old not
to visit Syria or Iraq and instead directed that, "he should carry on
the work of Allah from India itself."
Investigators have referred to the Hyderabad module as the most
dangerous in India, citing factors like covert methods employed to
recruit the youth, the way in which the members of the terrorist module
communicated with each other, and the expertise of the IS handler and
those employed to collect arms and ammunition.

Everything seemed to go as per plan as Ibrahim managed to recruit
several youth from Hyderabad including his own younger brother — till
June 29, the date when the NIA finally busted the module. But
investigators say that interest in the Hyderabad module was on the wane
with some youth, allegedly recruited by Ibrahim — and whose identities
are protected by the NIA— left the group right before an alleged terror
attack could have been carried. The chargesheet lists out four Protected
Witnesses PW's, who were recruited by Ibrahim and other members of the
Hyderabad module at some point of time.
In its charge sheet, NIA mentions a youth who was recruited and,
"then grew fearful as he did not approve of the plans for the terrorist
acts by the group. He then stage-managed his exit from the group by
disappearing on the 15 May, 2016, by spreading a message that he was
picked up by the police/NlA and questioned about his activities." This
was more than a month before the group was busted.

NIA has claimed that even after his exit, the group continued to
make plans of carrying terror attacks, but this was after disbanding for
a period of five days.
Starting May 29, it was business as usual, with the members of the
module given different duties, including collecting weapons, planning
escape routes, collecting money, and so on. On June 19, three years
after Ibrahim was initiated into the jihadist fold, held a meeting
during an iftar at the home of another accused named Habeeb Mohammad.
It was on this day that Ibrahim, who himself was radicalized by
Jordanian nationals, would try to do the same to two other individuals
or protected witnesses. Ten days later, however the whole operation came
at a staggering halt with NIA making the first arrest.